Kenosha — Kenosha Indian Trail senior Zach Gianakos is still smarting from the 69-7 smack-down Oak Creek delivered the Hawks football team last year on its way to an unbeaten Southeast Conference championship.

"That left a real bad taste in our mouths," said Gianakos, Indian Trail's quarterback. "We knew this would be a big game for us to see what we have done in a year."

Well, the Hawks are a year older and a year better. On Saturday afternoon, Indian Trail remained undefeated by beating Oak Creek, 28-14, at Charles Jaskwhich Stadium.

The Hawks survived an hourlong lightning delay and a freight-train late surge by the Knights and improved to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in SEC play. Oak Creek dropped to 1-2 and 0-1.

Gianakos, one of those seniors, did his part, rushing for 194 yards on 31 carries and scoring two touchdowns that helped the Hawks take a 20-0 lead in the fourth quarter.

Indian Trail led, 3-0, after a defensive first half that was interrupted for an hour by rain and lightning.

In the second half, Gianakos scored on a 47-yard gallop and a 5-yard run to give the Hawks the 20-0 advantage.

"We just didn't finish in the first half like we wanted to," Gianakos said. "In the second half our offensive line was really blocking up front. Then we lost focus for a while."

The lost focus started with a Gianakos fumble that Oak Creek turned into a quick touchdown to make it 20-7 with seven minutes 37 seconds left.

The Knights recovered not one, but two onside kicks in a row. In between, Oak Creek quarterback Jordan Strong threw a touchdown pass to Matt Hargreaves to make it 20-14.

After the second kick recovery, the Knight got to the Hawks 5 before a fourth-down pass from Strong sailed too high with one minute 56 seconds left.

"We were just a yard too far on that," said Oak Creek coach Mike Bartholomew. "But we buried ourselves with mistakes and penalties. Indian Trail outplayed us on both lines. We had chances, but we made too many critical errors."

In the first half, Oak Creek blocked a punt and recovered a fumble but came away with no points. Another blocked punt was nullified by a penalty in the third quarter, and Indian Trail went on to score 17 straight points.

The Hawks might have a perfect record, but their play was far from flawless, McKay said. "There are a lot of things we need to work on," McKay said. "Two blocked punts, two onside kicks we didn't get. We have to get better at dealing with sudden changes."

But change is apparently taking place in the SEC, and the Hawks, who finished 2-6 last season, appear to be for real. Indian Trail defeated a conference champion for the third week in a row. Next up is city rival and perennial SEC power Kenosha Tremper.

"Our goal since Day 1 has been to win the conference championship, but you can't do that in one game," McKay said. "We have to focus on the team in front of us that game. To be the best, you have to beat the best."

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